Raised seam roofs are formed with U-shaped roof panels wherein the upright legs of the roof panels are joined to the upright legs of the adjacent roof panels to create a seam between adjacent roof panels. Precipitation is drained downwardly toward the roof line along the horizontal portion of the roof panel to keep the moisture away from the raised seam. At the peak of the roof structure, a vent cap is typically applied to cover the spaced between the opposing roof panels. The vent cap is typically secured to the roof panels by fasteners that connect the vent cap to a support member, which in turn is connected by fasteners to the individual roof panels. This support member can be in the shape of a Z having horizontal flanges that connect via fasteners to the vent cap and the roof panel, respectively, with a vertical flange interconnecting the horizontal flanges. The vertical flange can be formed with a plurality of openings to permit the passage of air from the outside the roof structure into the vent cap, or vice versa.
A Z-shaped support member is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,427,571, granted to Gary L. Selis on Jun. 17, 1995, in which the Z-shaped support member is connected to the roofing member by fasteners 68 extending through the lower horizontal flange, and to the vent cap member by fasteners 46 extending through the upper horizontal flange. The ventilation to the vent cap in the Selis patent is provided through corrugated material incorporated into the vent cap where the fastener 46 passes through the corrugated material to reach the upper horizontal flange of the Z-shaped support member.
A formed Z-closure member is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,605,022, issued on Feb. 25, 1997, to David A. Fulton to connect a vent cap to a specialized raised seam roof structure. The Fulton Z-closure member has a formed shape that includes an upper horizontal flange that is connected to the vent cap through fasteners 62. The Z-closure member has a lower horizontal flange that is connected to the roof panels through fasteners 60. The lower horizontal flange also includes a formed inner sidewall portion that extends upwardly and terminates in a lip that establishes a cavity that directs air flow in a particular manner through the vertical portion of the Z-closure member, which is formed with ventilation openings, then upwardly over the inner sidewall. The ventilation openings are covered by a screen that is trapped between integrally formed screen clamps on the back side of the ventilated vertical member.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,662,510, issued on Dec. 16, 2003, to Martin J. Rotter, a roof ventilation strip is mounted to a raised panel roof structure where the vent cap would overlie the ventilation strip. The vent cap is connected to the raised seam portions by fasteners passing through the ventilation strip. The roof structure disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,788,857, granted on Sep. 7, 2010, to Jeffrey Sprengler, et al, includes a Z-shaped support member positioned between the upright legs of the roof panel members. The Sprengler Z-shaped support member includes an upper horizontal flange that connects to a vent cap, but the lower horizontal flange further includes a formed wrap around portion that includes a hinge 14 that permits the wrap around portion to be positioned below the roof panel member. A fastener can then pass through the lower horizontal flange, through the roof panel member and then through the wrap around portion. The Sprengler Z-shaped support member does not teach the use of ventilation openings through the vertical member for the passage of air into the vent cap, although the lower horizontal flange is formed with openings for the passage of the fasteners to connect the Z-shaped support member to the roof panels.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2001/0052207 of Robert Davis, published on Dec. 20, 2001, discloses a Z-closure member having an upper horizontal flange for connection to a vent cap and a lower horizontal flange for connection to a Z-shaped support member positioned between the upright legs of a raised seam roof structure. A vertical member interconnects the upper and lower horizontal flanges and is provided with ventilation openings for the passage of air from outside the roof structure to inside the vent cap.
Similarly, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2013/0344796 of Daniel Rossetta, published on Dec. 26, 2013, discloses a Z-closure member connecting a vent cap to a shingled roof structure. The Z-closure member is shown to have several configurations, but essentially consists of the upper and lower horizontal flanges for connection to the Z-closure member to the vent cap and to the roof structure, respectively. The vertical portion of the Z-closure member is formed with ventilation openings that allow for the passage of air through the Z-closure member into or from the vent cap.
It would be desirable to provide a formed Z-closure member for use with raised seam roof structures where the Z-closure member can be formed through conventional metal bending machines and provide structure for retaining a filter member without requiring specially formed clamps or other structure for retaining the filter against the vertical face of the Z-closure member.